Kings of the Court

New Talents

AN: After this chapter, I will be running a poll on my forum for whether or not I should include other people from the Naruto verse. I can't really figure out any way to get to it other than you going to my favorites and checking the forums there, so you can do that.

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"Start!"

The upperclassman threw the ball up into the air, while it climbed to reach its peak, Midorima internally questioned why Naruto was the one doing the tip-off.

'He's the shorter of the two by a bit. Maybe Sasuke isn't confident in his jumping?' He would get his answer soon when the ball finally reached the peak and started its descent.

Before Midorima could even get off the floor, Naruto was already in the air and climbing toward the ball at incredible speeds. By the time Midorima had reached the highest point of his jump, Naruto had grabbed the ball and thrown it back to Sasuke who jetted past him.

The green-haired SG looked at Naruto as he pushed up his glasses. 'His reaction time is near perfect and that explosive power is no joke. I also have a sneaking suspicion that wasn't the highest he can go.'

"Nice one, Naruto!" Sasuke said as he came face to face with Takao who was obviously surprised that Naruto beat Midorima in a tip-off despite the more than 5-inch height difference.

Now all he had to do was capitalize on it. He drove forward to the right at a moderate speed, and Takao was able to follow him easily. He 'tch'ed and did a spin to the left without slowing down at all, which surprised everyone watching.

On the sidelines, one of the other first year's turned to their coach. "What was that!? He just spun mid-drive without any balance delay after!"

The coach didn't tear his eyes from the game but responded. "That, was a perfectly executed spin. Normally when performing a spin move, you plan the foot on the side you're going to spin to. When you spin in the opposite direction of the drive, this greatly slows you down, seeing as you're completely switching positions which causes you to lose some balance. But he used his body to roll off of Takao and push off to the left at the same time, keeping himself steady and allowing him to maintain speed without the risk of falling."

He finally looked away from the game for a second and at the rest of the team. "It's a move primarily used in professional or high-level play, considering it takes the skill to predict where your opponent will be so that you can properly roll off of them. Otherwise, the fall you experience will be even bigger than a normal one."

Back in the game, Sasuke had gotten through Takao and managed to score a simple layup. Now it was Midorima and Takao's turn on the offensive.

The brown-haired boy slowly dribbled up the court, taking in everything. The positions of Naruto and Sasuke, how open Midorima exactly was, and things like that.

Even though there was a large size difference between Naruto and Midorima, the short blond was holding his own and defending against Midorima competently.

"Your defense is fruitless." Then, instead of trying to push forward as he had been for a while, the bespectacled boy took a large step back. Immediately, the ball was passed to him.

He brought his arm up in a clean and practiced motion and shot from beyond the ark. The ball rolled off of his fingertips and came up in one of the highest arks Naruto had ever seen before splashing in the basket. Nothing but net. The tall SG pushed up his glasses with a neutral face.

And there it was. The genius three-point shot that earned Midorima his place in the Generation of Miracles. Sasuke had watched back some tapes from previous games and saw that Midorima could shoot perfectly from anywhere on the court, even the opposite side.